Ian McCollum - Forgotten Weapons

Drum-Fed LMG for Chinese Warlords: the Finnish LS-26/31

November 8, 2025 Ian McCollum 0

Join the Forged in Snow launch here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=2sw39d After the Finnish Defense Forces adopted the LS26 light machine gun, Aimo Lahti and the Tikkakoski factory continued to work on further developing it. They designed a […]

MY NEW BOOK! Forged in Snow: Finnish Small Arms 1917-2025

November 6, 2025 Ian McCollum 2

Join the book launch on Kickstarter now! https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/headstamp/forged-in-snow?ref=f1ouec Forged in Snow: Finnish Small Arms 1917 – 2025 is a reference guide to military firearms manufactured and modified in Finland. Intended for collectors and historians alike, […]

AK50: How Hard Could it Be? Brandon Herrera’s 10-Year Project

November 5, 2025 Ian McCollum 47

Scaling the AK up to .50 BMG…how hard could it be? Today we find out, with a detailed looks at all threee iterations of Brandon Herrera’s AK-50 project.

Apache Arms Carbine: A Saga of Compliance and Crappy Manufacture

November 3, 2025 Ian McCollum 17

The Apache Arms carbine was a Thompson SMG lookalike that was made in small numbers in the late 1960s. It was the successor to the Spitfire carbine made by the same people, after the Spitfire […]

Licensed Troubleshoot: Guns of James Bond UPDATE!

November 2, 2025 Ian McCollum 0

Licensed Troubleshooter is still available for preorder: https://www.headstamppublishing.com/licensed-troubleshooter At long last we have proof of life for Licensed Troubleshooter: the Guns of James Bond by Caleb Daniels! This book hit several production delays, but is […]

The Original AR-15: Serial Number 6 in Original Configuration

November 1, 2025 Ian McCollum 16

The very first AR15 rifles submitted to US government trials were extremely light rights, with an assortment of interesting features that did not last long. They had top-mounted charging handles, one-piece hand guards, very thin […]

Project PRAK: Converting the CZ50 Pistol to 9x18mm Makarov

October 31, 2025 Ian McCollum 7

In 1966, CZ undertook Project PRAK (“Slingshot”) to investigate the possibility of converting the CZ50 pocket pistol to 9x18mm Makarov. The PM Makarov was adopted in the 1950s and used throughout the eastern bloc, but […]

Colt LE-901 Modular Multi-Caliber AR: A Well-Designed Failure

October 29, 2025 Ian McCollum 26

Colt originally developed the 901 as part of the US Army SCAR program, with the intention being to create a 7.62x51mm rifle that could also use unmodified 5.56x45mm upper assemblies. This would allow special operations […]

Albania’s Rather Odd Grenade Launching AK

October 27, 2025 Ian McCollum 7

https://youtu.be/g-VS_ZwXxF0 In addition to its regular ASh-78 (fixed stock) and ASh-82 (under folder) Kalashnikovs, Albania also made a model specifically for launching rifle grenades and it has some odd features. The rear sight block was […]

Q&A October 2025: Weird Pistols & Future Plans

October 25, 2025 Ian McCollum 41

Use code “FORGOTTENWEAPONS10” for 10% off Kyrö Distillery spirits at their web store: https://kyrodistillery.com/ Personal questions 03:07 – How is Ian doing? 04:38 – Family firearms background 05:47 – Favorite Finnish firearm 08:22 – Am […]